The very best indication that a student is prepared for graduate school or the profession of Geology is the successful completion of a research project. Undergraduate research is not required for Geology majors, but it is certainly recommended. This is, after all, one of the benefits of being a student at a research university. Successful completion of such a project may qualify the student for departmental honors upon graduation.
Here is a list of some recent undergraduate research projects. This list is not complete and can be expected to grow through time. It is included to provide some examples.
• Marci Lauth
(in process) – Examination of carbonate and siliceous lake and spring
deposits from the Green River Formation (Prof. Tim Lowenstein).
• Ben Drexell (in process) – A study of Cambrian stromatolites from Fossil Sea Gardens (Prof. Tim Lowenstein).
• Ryan Capobianco (in process) – A study of sedimentology and fluid inclusions of Trona from Lake Magadi (Prof. Tim Lowenstein).
• Mark Ziminsky
(2009) – Participated in two research cruises in the seas surrounding
Taiwan centered around ocean-bottom seismometer deployment and
retrieval, and contributed to bathymetric data processing (Prof.
Francis Wu).
• Joshua Sandberg (2004) – "A
quantitative study of the water content in layered and chain silicates"
(Prof. David Jenkins). This work was presented at the 12th Annual
Honors Day and Undergraduate Showcase, April 23rd, 2004.
• Maria Fokin
(2001) – "A study of the effects of changes in P-T and bulk composition
on the triple chain structure of clinojimthompsonite" (Prof. David
Jenkins). This research helped establish the background for a future
NSF grant.
• Susan deLeonardo (2000) – "Senior
Thesis: A wavelet analysis of the Markowitz wobble" (Prof. Steve
Dickman). A novel form of data analysis was used to elucidate the
properties and, more important, the possible causes of this small,
enigmatic 30-year perturbation of Earth's rotation axis.
